In September 1973, an inmate of the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison, Iowa filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the prison warden. The plaintiff complained about administrative segregation conditions, standards, ...
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In September 1973, an inmate of the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison, Iowa filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the prison warden. The plaintiff complained about administrative segregation conditions, standards, and infrequent evaluations of segregated prisoners. The plaintiff further alleged an equal protection violation, claiming that inmates convicted of murder had not been classified as a serious safety threat in the past.

On June 6, 1974, the District Court (Judge William C. Hanson) held that the conditions of administrative segregation violated his Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, but did not find an equal protection violation. Kelly v. Brewer, 378 F. Supp. 447 (S.D. Iowa 1974). In addition, the court refused to find that the inmate was subjected to cruel and unusual punishment after he was convicted of killing a prison guard.

The prison appealed. The plaintiff cross-appealed, seeking reinstatement of the equal protection and due process claims. On November 19, 1975, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (Judge Jesse S. Henley) held the cross-appeal was moot because the inmate had been released from prison and the action was not certified as a class action. Kelly v. Brewer, 525 F.2d 394 (8th Cir. 1975). In addition, the Eighth Circuit affirmed the lower court's holding, that conditions of administrative segregation were unconstitutional.

We lack the docket, pleadings, and orders in this case. We have no knowledge of subsequent proceedings.

A prisoner in the Iowa state penitentiary allegedly that he had been subjected to a deprivation of constitutional rights under color of state law due to the facts and conditions surrounding his confinement in administrative segregation